JP2000071738A - Stabilizer effectiveness controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a stabilizer effectiveness controller by means of an electromagnetic actuator able to perform a high level of attitude change control of a vehicle body while turning, and which has a reduced power consumption. SOLUTION: Attitude change (roll) of a vehicle body initiating a turn of a small roll angle is controlled by means of an actuator 1 by making the movable range L1 of an electromagnetic actuator 1 for changing the apparent torsional rigidity of a stabilizer R smaller than the movable range L2 of left and right wheels W such that the actuator 1 reaches the end of that movable range, that is, by stopping electricity to the actuator 1 when bottoming out is detected. When the roll angle becomes greater, the actuator 1 with a small movable range first bottoms out and the attitude change of the vehicle body is then controlled by the inherent rigidity of the stabilizer R. Electricity to the actuator 1 is stopped at that time, thereby remarkably reducing power consumption.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stabilizer effect control device for changing the apparent torsional rigidity of a stabilizer provided between left and right wheels by an actuator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus is known in which the apparent torsional rigidity of a stabilizer comprising a torsion bar is changed by using an electromagnetic actuator to control a change in the attitude of a vehicle body during turning. 4-191
No. 114). In such a device, the output of the actuator is generally controlled mainly based on the lateral acceleration value.

In the prior art, the actuator is extended and contracted in a direction for canceling a roll angle generated while the vehicle is turning. Specifically, an actuator is usually attached to one end or both ends of the stabilizer, and a force against the load applied to the outer wheel during turning is generated in the actuator according to the traveling speed. In this way, at high speeds, the roll angle is reduced and the rigidity is increased to improve the tire contact feeling, and at low speeds, the rigidity is slightly reduced to enhance the riding comfort.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned electromagnetic actuator must be extended to a certain position, and must be constantly energized in order to maintain that state.
There is a problem that the power consumption increases.

On the other hand, in controlling the posture change of the vehicle body during turning, it is important to control the region where the roll angle is small. In the region where the roll angle is large, it is possible to sufficiently cope with the inherent mechanical torsional rigidity of the stabilizer. We have found something.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a high-level control for changing the attitude of a vehicle body during turning and reducing the power consumption. It is an object of the present invention to provide a stabilizer effect control device using a type actuator.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an actuator 1 for changing an apparent torsional rigidity of a stabilizer R provided between left and right wheels, and an output of the actuator 1 are provided. In a stabilizer effect control device having control means (for example, the electronic control unit E in the embodiment) for controlling, the movable range of the actuator 1 is smaller than the movable range of the left and right wheels W, and the movable range of the actuator 1 is When the bottom detection means (for example, the stroke sensor 48 and the bottom determination circuit 49 in the embodiment) detects that the actuator 1 has reached the end of its movable range, that is, the bottom is detected. When it is detected (for example, step 6 in the embodiment), the power supply to the actuator 1 is stopped (for example, in the embodiment, step 6). Tsu was up 7) so. According to this, the posture change of the vehicle body when the roll angle is small (roll)
Is controlled by the actuator 1, and when the roll angle is large, the actuator 1 having a narrow movable range first goes to the bottom, and then the posture change of the vehicle body is controlled by the inherent rigidity of the stabilizer R. At that time, the actuator 1 does not need to be energized, so it stops.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an electromagnetic linear actuator (hereinafter referred to as an actuator) to which the present invention is applied. The actuator 1 has a cylindrical shape with a bottom and a joint 3 made of a ball stud provided on a top surface thereof, and a number of annular solenoids laminated on the inner peripheral surface of the case 3 in the axial direction. Peace 4
Extending on the center axis of the case 3,
A rod 7 is provided with a joint 6 made of a ball stud at one end protruding from an opening of the case 3, and an armature 9 made up of a number of pole pieces 8 laminated on the outer periphery of the rod 7.

The opening of the case 3 is closed by a cap 10 having a rod 7 inserted through a center hole 10a. The cap 10 has an O-ring 11 interposed at the opening end of the case 3 to hermetically fit the seal portion 12 thereof, and is screwed into a female screw 13 formed inside the opening. Further, a gap between the inner periphery of the center hole 10 a of the cap 10 and the outer periphery of the rod 7 is hermetically sealed by a seal member 14.

Here, for convenience, the case 3 is described as being opened downward, but it goes without saying that the direction is not restricted in practical use.

Solenoid piece 4 constituting stator 5
As shown in FIG. 2, a coil 17 is formed by winding a conductive wire around a thin bobbin 16 made of a magnetic soft iron material provided with a depression 15 on the inner peripheral side. The stator 5 is formed by stacking a number of solenoid pieces 4 at both ends in the axial direction between end collars 18a and 18b, and screwed into a female screw 13 formed on the inner peripheral surface on the opening end side of the case 3. It is fastened by the hollow outer screw nut 19 that has been formed. Each set of three coils 17 in the order of lamination is delta-connected and connected to a power supply lead wire S.

As shown in FIG. 2, the armature 9 includes an annular permanent magnet 20, a pair of annular soft yokes 21 sandwiching the annular permanent magnet 20 from above and below, and a stainless steel sandwiched on the outer peripheral side of the pair of annular yokes 21. A number of pole pieces 8 composed of a magnetic shield ring 22 made of a material are laminated on the rod 7, and both ends thereof are end collars 23a and 23b.
, And the nut 24 screwed to the top end side of the rod 7 is tightened to be integrally connected to the rod 7.

These adjacent pole pieces 8
Are arranged in such a manner that the opposing S poles and the opposing N poles are alternately inverted.

The armature 9 is slidably supported by oil-impregnated slide bushes 25a and 25b made of a sintered alloy fitted to end collars 18a and 18b holding both ends of the stator 5, so that the armature 9 can move axially together with the rod 7. Has become. Here, in order to reduce frictional resistance against the slide bushes 25a and 25b and to prevent abrasion, the outer peripheral surface of the armature 1 is polished and then hard coating 26 such as hard chrome.
Are formed. The hard coating 26 may be formed only on the surface that slides at least on the slide bushes 25a and 25b, but may be applied on the entire surface in view of the rust prevention effect.

As described above, the armature 9 is excited by sequentially exciting each set of the solenoid pieces 4 in synchronization with the output of the pole piece position detecting means 27 using the Hall element.
The linear force actuator 1 in which the rod 7 is linearly driven by the axial force generated in the linear motor 1 is formed. Since the principle of the linear motor itself is already known, further description is omitted here.

The case 3 encloses the armature 9 together with the rod 7, and vacancies 28 a and 28 b are formed between the top surface of the case 3 and the inner surface of the cap 10 and both end surfaces of the armature 9 in the axial direction, respectively. Is formed. Since the volumes of the two empty chambers 28a and 28b change with the movement of the armature 9, the air passage 29 for communicating between the two empty chambers 28a and 28b is provided in order to balance the internal pressure of the two empty chambers 28a and 28b. It is provided at the center of the rod 7.

FIG. 3 shows one side of a suspension system in which each terminal of a stabilizer R composed of a torsion bar is connected to the left and right suspension arms A by the actuator 1 described above. As is well known, the stabilizer R has substantially no effect when the left and right wheels W move up and down in phase, but when the left and right wheels W move up and down in opposite phases, the torsional rigidity of the left and right wheels W The higher the torsional rigidity, the smaller the change in posture during turning, and the lower the torsional rigidity, the higher the riding comfort on a flat road. That is, the torsional rigidity of the stabilizer R is
It can be said that it is determined by the compromise between turning stability and riding comfort on a flat road.

For example, if one of the wheels W rides on a protrusion while traveling on a flat road, the effect of the stabilizer R acts on a normal vehicle to prevent the wheel W from being lifted. However, if the actuator 1 is provided on, for example, one of the wheels W and is shortened, the force of the stabilizer R is absorbed, the wheels W move up smoothly, and the vibration is not transmitted to the vehicle body. Conversely, one wheel W
When falls into the concave portion, the force of the stabilizer R can be absorbed by extending the actuator 1. In other words, the apparent torsional rigidity of the stabilizer R can be continuously changed by providing the actuator 1 on at least one of the left and right ends of the stabilizer R, appropriately expanding and contracting the actuator 1 and controlling the thrust thereof. Becomes That is, according to the device of the present invention, it is possible to enhance the riding comfort on a flat road by setting the characteristics of the stabilizer R itself to a rigid setting in which, for example, turning stability is emphasized, and operating the actuator 1 as necessary. .

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the stroke range of the actuator 1, ie, the movable range L1, is smaller than the stroke range of the left and right wheels W, ie, the movable range L2 (L1 <L2). Therefore, when a force larger than the driving force of the actuator 1 is input, the actuator 1 bottoms out, and thereafter, a reaction force is generated only by the torsional rigidity of the stabilizer R.

Next, general drive control of the actuator 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

Lateral acceleration sensor 31, front left wheel speed sensor 3
2. Each output of the right front wheel speed sensor 33, the yaw rate sensor 34, and the steering angle sensor 35 is taken in by the electronic control unit E for centrally controlling the apparatus, and the estimated yaw rate calculator 36 is calculated from the steering angle and the difference between the left and right wheel speeds. And the estimated lateral acceleration calculator 37 calculates the estimated lateral acceleration from the steering angle and the average value of the left and right wheel speeds.

The estimated values and detected values of the lateral acceleration and the yaw rate are input to comparison circuits 38 and 39, and the larger one is input to the actuator thrust calculator 40. This is a measure for compensating for the response delay of the sensor output, which is inevitable.

In the thrust calculator 40, since the relation of the thrust to the added value of the lateral acceleration and the yaw rate is stored in the form of a map or a mathematical formula, the thrust value is calculated based on the lateral acceleration and the yaw rate, and this is calculated as a target value. The current is input to the current setting device 41, and the thrust is converted into a current value.

On the other hand, the steering angular velocity is calculated by differentiating the output of the steering angle sensor 35 with a steering angular velocity calculator 42, for example.
This value is input to the correction current calculator 43 at the start of cutting, and a target current value corresponding to the steering angular speed at that time is output from the relationship between the steering angular speed and the current value set in the form of a map in advance.

This is input to the comparison circuit 44 together with the output of the target current setting unit 41, and the larger one is input to the PID control circuit 4
5 is output. This control focuses on the fact that the steer the steer, the steer angular velocity at the start of turning is higher. At the time of sharp steering, the target current is set larger at the start of turning, and the stabilizer R
This is a measure to increase the effectiveness of An excitation current is supplied to the stator 5 composed of a laminated body of the coils 17 connected in three-phase delta via the drive circuit 46 in accordance with the synchronization signal generated by the synchronization signal generation circuit 47 based on the output of the position detection means 27. In addition, by feeding back the actual current from the current detection circuit 48, the actuator 1 is driven to expand and contract so as to optimize the torsional rigidity of the stabilizer R.

On the other hand, the output from the stroke sensor 48 provided in the actuator 1 is input to the bottom determination circuit 49. When the actuator 1 reaches the end of its movable range, that is, the bottom is detected. Then, the power supply to the actuator 1 from the drive circuit 48 is stopped.

Next, a basic control flow of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

When the ignition switch is turned on (step 1), the electronic control unit E performs a self-diagnosis and performs an initial setting (step 2). Next, lateral acceleration, vehicle speed, steering angle, and the like are read (step 3), and it is determined whether the operating condition of the actuator 1 is cleared (step 4). If the operating condition is cleared, step 5 is performed.
Then, the expansion and contraction control of the actuator 1 is performed as described above. Then, in step 6, the actuator 1
It is determined whether or not the end of the movable range is reached, that is, the bottom is determined. When the bottom is reached, the power supply to the actuator 1 is stopped (step 7), and the process proceeds to step 8. If it is not bottomed out in step 6, the process proceeds to step 8 as it is. Then, the processing of steps 3 to 7 is repeated until it is determined in step 8 that the ignition switch has been turned off.

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the roll angle of the vehicle, the reaction force (combined force of the mechanical reaction force of the stabilizer R and the thrust generated by the actuator 1), and the current supplied to the actuator 1. First, in the range where the roll angle is small (from the origin to the point A), the thrust of the actuator 1 exceeds the external force, so that the reaction force is the same as when a hard stabilizer is used, and the range where the roll angle is slightly large (point A). (From point B to point B), the thrust of the actuator 1 is defeated by the external force and is gradually pushed (pulled) back, so that the reaction force is the same as when a soft stabilizer is used. Then, at the point B, the actuator 1 reaches the end of its movable range, that is, bottoms out, and thereafter (right side from the point B), only the mechanical reaction force of the relatively hard stabilizer R is applied. At this point, the power supply to the actuator 1 is stopped when the point B is reached from the point A side, thereby reducing the power consumption (broken line). And
Needless to say, when the roll angle is reduced again and the point B is reached from the right side of the graph, the energization is restarted and the above control is performed.

In this embodiment, the actuator 1 is an electromagnetic linear actuator. However, a rotary electromagnetic actuator may be used, and a link member or the like may be separately provided between the actuator and the stabilizer. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the stroke sensor is used for bottom detection, but the bottom switch is detected by the limit switch,
Estimating bottoming from detected lateral acceleration, steering angle,
The lateral acceleration may be estimated first from the vehicle speed and the like, and the bottom may be estimated from the estimated lateral acceleration.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, the movable range of the electromagnetic actuator for changing the apparent torsional rigidity of the stabilizer is made smaller than the movable range of the left and right wheels, and the actuator is located at the end of the movable range. When the bottom is detected, that is, when bottoming is detected, the energization of the actuator is stopped, so that the posture change (roll) of the vehicle body in the initial stage of turning with a small roll angle is controlled by the actuator. The actuator first bottoms out, and then the posture change of the vehicle body is controlled by the inherent rigidity of the stabilizer. At that time, the power supply to the actuator is stopped to significantly reduce the power consumption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an electromagnetic linear actuator of a stabilizer effect control device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a solenoid piece and a pole piece.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part of a suspension device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a basic control flow chart of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the operation characteristics of a stabilizer to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Actuator 31 Lateral acceleration sensor 32 Front left wheel speed sensor, 33 Front right wheel speed sensor (vehicle speed sensor) 35 Steering angle sensor 48 Stroke sensor, 49 Bottom judgment circuit (Bottom detection means) R Stabilizer E Electronic control unit (Control means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Mitsunori Kawashima 1-4-1 Chuo, Wako-shi, Saitama F-term in Honda R & D Co., Ltd. (Reference) 3D001 AA00 AA03 DA06 DA17 EA00 EA02 EA08 EA22 EA36 EB07 EB15 EC05 EC10 ED02 ED06

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electromagnetic actuator for changing an apparent torsional rigidity of a stabilizer provided between at least one of left and right wheels of a front and a rear wheel, and control means for controlling an output of the actuator. An effect control device for a stabilizer having bottom detecting means for detecting that the actuator has reached the end of its movable range, wherein the movable range of the actuator is narrower than the movable range of the left and right wheels. And (c) stopping the power supply to the actuator when the actuator reaches the end of its movable range.